Daily dish

It's another year and another Adele domination on the music charts: The British singer is Billboard's top artist of 2012.

Billboard said Friday that Adele is the year's biggest artist and her diamond "21" album, released in February 2011, is this year's top album. Adele earned both prizes last year.

The year's top three songs are Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know," Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" and fun.'s "We Are Young," respectively.

Adele is also the top female artist. Drake is the top male artist, One Direction is the top new artist and Maroon 5 is the year's top group.

Billboard said Drake, Taylor Swift, fun. and Don Omar are the top acts in the R&B/hip-hop, country, rock and Latin fields, respectively.

In other music news, One Direction is MTV's 2012 Artist of the Year.

MTV says the fivesome is "the clear choice for the top spot" after a year that included two No. 1 albums, hits such as "What Makes You Beautiful" and a sold-out world tour.

One Direction's Louis Tomlinson calls Thursday's honor "the icing on the cake."

MTV's team of music staffers chose Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" as song as the year.

One Direction placed third on the U.K. version of "The X Factor" in 2010 and made their U.S. debut in March with the No. 1 album "Up All Night." Their sophomore album, "Take Me Home," was the year's third-highest debut.

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The group also made Barbara Walters' most fascinating people of 2012 list.

Judge L.A. Reid leaving 'X Factor'

L.A. Reid will soon be an ex-judge on "The X Factor."

The veteran music executive is not returning to the Fox singing competition series next season, a representative for Epic Records said Thursday. Reid is chairman and CEO of Epic, a division of Sony Entertainment.

Reid joined the American version of the show last year along with creator Simon Cowell. This season also boasts Britney Spears and Demi Lovato as judges. Its finale is next week.

Last year Reid left his job as chairman and CEO of Island Def Jam Music Group, where he helped launch careers for acts like Rihanna and Justin Bieber. At Epic, his roster includes Sade, Fiona Apple, Karmin, Ciara and "X Factor" season one winner Melanie Amaro.

Charles Schulz letters fail to attract buyer

A rare archive of letters and drawings by "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz did not find a buyer at a New York City auction.

Sotheby's had estimated that the letters would sell for $250,000 to $350,000 at Friday's sale.

The cartoonist wrote the affectionate letters to a young woman in 1970-1971.

The 44 letters included 22 original drawings of some of the comic strip's characters, including Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy.

Sotheby's called it the most significant collection of correspondence and drawings by Schulz to come to auction.

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